I received a phone call from a patient, who wanted to call me directly and share the experience she had with Sarah. She started off by saying "I have been treated all over the country for my cancer and have never had care like what I had received that day at the Grafton hospital." She went on to be thankful for the entire experience from start to finish, but mentioned that one person stood out and made a difference- and that was Sarah. She explained to me that she has battled with cancer over the years and interacted with many people in the process. While she has always had good experiences and great care, she felt Sarah went above and beyond, "just for a few minutes I didn't feel like a patient and I can't thank her enough for that." She was incredibly nervous about the procedure and Sarah went out of her way to ask her things about her children and life, to distract her and take her mind off of everything that was going on. She even called Sarah her "soul sister." She went on about the great care she received for about ten minutes and was incredibly impressed with the caring and compassionate nurse Sarah was. She wanted her to know that even though it was only a few minutes, it "meant the world and something I will be forever grateful for." She said, "it's amazing what just a few minutes can do when you have so many scary things going on in life."
I am so grateful to have Sarah on my team. For every single patient she cares for, she goes out of her way to ease their nerves, let them know they are in great hands, spends some time getting to know them and letting them know every detail about their procedure from a nurse and patient perspective. When I walk past our patient holding area and hear her conversations with patients, I am blown away by the compassion and respect she has for every single person. Sarah has such a big heart and love for nursing, and I know this is felt by our patients. In Interventional Radiology, we only have a few minutes with a patient prior to them going into the procedure. Many of these patients are here for biopsies to stage cancer, port placements, or interventional chemo procedures. Sarah spends every one of those few minutes, making the patient feel at ease and distracting them from the unknown, chaos, and sadness that most of them have going on in their life. She is one of the most caring, thoughtful, and kind-hearted nurses I know. She has been recognized by many patients and I truly believe that she is a DAISY Nurse.